Silence.

It's dark all around. Sometimes, strange sounds are made from somewhere. Hissing. Or whistling. Or something else. It was difficult to understand exactly where the sounds were coming from, what they meant, and what was going on at all. The darkness was too thick, as if she was in a black hole. She also couldn't smell, taste, or feel her own body. She was only asking herself one question. Where is she now? What is this strange place? Elizabeth... That's her name. Was. She remembers everything perfectly. She remembers the past. She remembers her death. But she doesn't remember how she got here. She looked down at her hands. They were covered in blood. She touched her face. Her hands were even more stained with blood. She didn't feel any pain. Struggling with herself, the soul tried to understand at least a little what was going on here. Why is she here? Is this the place where they go after death? Or will they come for her again? But when? So many questions and no answers.

Soul... Why did she describe herself like that? After all, she's a ghost... Or not? Is that how it works here? Works... What works? What the hell is going on here?

- Hello? - Elizabeth said it in a low, husky voice, as if she had never spoken before.

Silence.

Suddenly, faces began to flash before the eyes of the soul. All familiar faces. They were so kind, smiling. Parents, friends, acquaintances. However, something was causing her embarrassment and anxiety. Another face. Kind and warm, but at the same time, it seemed creepy to her. Ghost... K'hadesh? But he had saved her dad. Why does he seem so creepy to her now? Suddenly, the soul wanted to hide even deeper in the darkness. She really wanted to run away. But she couldn't feel her legs. She couldn't get up. She could only sit. But fear and anxiety were growing. How long does she have to sit here?

Elizabeth gathered her thoughts. But the fear intensified, as if she was missing something important from sight. Finally, she began to realize that the hissing and whistling sounds were actually whispers. The whisper was almost impossible to make out, but it seemed to the girl as if she was being comforted. They call her to their place.

- Hello! - the girl shouted louder in order to get at least some reaction.

But the whispering continued anyway.

She was not one of the stupid ones and knew perfectly well that nothing like this should be trusted. Especially if the subconscious says that you need to hide as soon as possible. But she tried to try anyway. She managed to get on her feet. Another problem. There was nowhere to hide. There was only one darkness around and it was possible to walk endlessly along it. But the soul didn't want to go anywhere. She was afraid to move. She didn't understand where this could lead her. But she felt it... Felt that there must be salvation somewhere.

And then the light appeared...

Bright and unexpected, it abruptly interrupted her thoughts and forced her to look around. Nothing... Only darkness, hissing and whistling.

Then the soul turned gaze to the hands. They were all covered in blood as well. Elizabeth examined her clothes. The pink blouse that her mother gave her was also stained with blood, but not like her hands, the blue knee-length skirt was also covered in blood. She was covered in blood. Of course, there wasn't much space in Baby's stomach, and the blood got not only on her hands and face. Face... What happened to her face? Is there a mirror here? Of course not, how could it be here?

But before she had time to think about it properly, a strange silhouette came into the light.

- Hello? - Elizabeth said.

She looked closer. And screamed. To say that it shocked her is to say nothing. She had never seen such horror before.

A horrible, twisted semblance of a man was on all fours. To be more precise, it was in the "bridge" position, facing her from the side of the hands. Despite the fact that the face of this creature should have seemed inverted to her, it slowly turned its head so that it was in its seemingly original position. Only this was impossible, and in order to achieve such a result, the creature broke its neck with a nasty crunch. That didn't stop its from smiling. It was like a smile from a nightmare, in fact, like his whole appearance. There was a black hole on the face instead of a nose, and the eyes were red, the pupils were black, but the smile stretched from ear to ear, literally. In addition, the creature's mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth. A thick and black liquid dripped from its mouth, like all this darkness.

What did it want? She couldn't give an answer to these questions. Suddenly, the creature let out something growling, and hissed even louder. And suddenly, the girl realized that the whispers were coming from everywhere. It seemed that the darkness that had gathered around her was whispering. And there was more than one whisper. It's as if a huge number of people are whispering, hiding behind a shadow curtain. This only increased the fear, and the soul had new questions. For example, what should she do?

The answer came pretty quickly, shackling her body.

- Run if you can... - either whistled, or hissed the vile creature, stretching out its huge tongue, and greedily licking its teeth.

But that was her new problem. The soul could not move. Then the creature laughed, and that laugh was capable of driving you crazy. These terrible sounds could not be compared to anything. It was as if a mad hyena was trying to laugh, coughing, gurgling and choking on its own tongue.

And at some point, it seemed to the unhappy soul that this was the end. Even if she had once lived the life of a little girl who died because of her father's invention, now she would die again, only now she didn't even have a physical body. She was afraid to imagine exactly how the creature would do it, but she could not imagine anything else. As if someone had already assured her that she would die. Confirming her guesses, continuing to make a gurgle, vaguely similar to laughter, the terrible creature began to approach her, grinding its teeth and clicking its claws.

- What do you need?! - the girl shouted at him.

- Your Determination... - the creature rasped.

Determination? Determination... It was... Her soul? Yes, her soul was red. It was called Determination. Suddenly something happened.

- Honey, no matter what happens, you will always remain determinate and then luck will stand on your side. - the words of the mother flashed through the girl's head.

Exactly... But what should she do now?

For some reason, the girl put her hands in the pocket of her skirt. She felt something in her pocket. She pulled out this item. Was it her doll? A doll that her friend knitted for her. Charlotte... Charlie.

Some hope flashed through Elizabeth's eyes, and she looked at the creature slowly approaching. It didn't seem so scary to her anymore. But then she noticed a small but very important detail. A hole on the creature's head, from which black liquid was also oozing. She somehow knew that it was necessary to punch this hole with her fist, and then it would die. Where did she get these thoughts from? It doesn't matter, but it's worth a try now.

- I'm not afraid of you! - she shouted at the creature. - I have such a thing as Determination, and with it, no monster is scary to me!

She threw this doll right into the creature's hole. It screamed and covered its face with its huge hands.

Elizabeth pounced on its and began to beat its with her fists on this hole. The creature tried to unhook the girl from itself and bit her with its sharp teeth, but she didn't feel pain, so she didn't care. And then, the creature collapsed lifelessly on the invisible floor. The girl moved away from him. Taking her doll back in her hands, she poked the monster with it for some time. It was dead. Elizabeth smiled proudly.

Then the body began to twitch. The smile disappeared from the soul's face, and she backed away. Red smoke appeared around the creature, and the creature began to disappear into it. Also, unexpectedly, the smoke disappeared, and instead of the monster's body, he was sitting in front of the girl... Kitten.

The kitten was invisible and darkness could be seen through it, but it also emitted a red light from itself.

- Meow! - the kitten meowed and ran up to Elizabeth.

- Hello! - Elizabeth said with relief. - What are you doing here?

Suddenly, a light appeared in the distance. It was so bright that the girl covered her eyes with her hands, but when she got used to it, she looked at the light. There she saw the silhouette of a man. She took a closer look. It was a woman. A woman with curly hair. Abruptly appearing in front of her, she opened a passage for her, consisting of only light itself.

- Who are you? - it seemed to the girl that they had already met somewhere.

This girl was very young. She was somewhere around 30 years old. She has pale skin, purple eyes, light brown curly hair, bangs painted in several stripes: purple, turquoise, purple, red, light pink, orange, blue. Why these particular colors? Unclear. She wears a beautiful dark pink floor-length dress decorated with a variety of beads and lace.

And then Elizabeth remembered where she had seen her. In the book with the fairy tale "Eloise and her friends" there were pictures with the appearance of the characters. There was this woman. This was the same Princess Sofia. But how? Exactly... These people lived in reality! But what is she doing here?

- That's right, Elizabeth, I'm Sofia... - Sofia said in a soft, pleasant, kind voice.

- Do you read minds?

- Yes, dear.

- But what are you doing here?

- I am a Goddess. You died before your time. You have fallen into the darkness, which is quite rare. This creature was the personification of your evil side. But you managed to defeat him and this kitten is the personification of your good side. You have a purpose that you didn't have time to fulfill. But don't worry, I'll help you.

- Purpose?

- Yes. There is one evil force that controls your loved one, and he wants to destroy this world. But I know you'll stop him. Only you and your friends are able to do this. Now your friends are protecting other corners of this world, but you will protect the whole world. You can't do it alone, so you need your friends. Now you are not all together, but in time you will find each other. Believe in yourself, and you will make the right choices that will bring not only you, but also your friends back to life. I'll help you. I will always be there to help you, because saving the world is not an easy matter. Everyone should participate in his salvation. And you will be the most important savior. And now you're free, child. Come on, Elizabeth. Do what you were born to do.

And without noticing it herself, Elizabeth began to slowly sink into the light portal that opens her passage into her world. Dear, bright world...

Elizabeth... Elizabeth...

- Thank you... - she spoke in a gentle, childish voice before the world of darkness in front of her disappeared.

She opened her eyes.